Huge Balloons! Macy's Thanksgiving day Parade
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On Thursday, millions of people will tune in via live streams, television or in person to Macy's 2012 Thanksgiving Day Parade for its 86th annual celebration. Thousands will flood the streets of New York City to see the parade with its marching bands, performers, celebrities, giant helium balloons and ornate floats.

The 86th annual parade is a yearly extravaganza of floats taking place in New York City. The parade will begin at 9 a.m. EST and continue until it reaches the end of its route at Macy's in Herald Square around 12 p.m. EST.

The three-hour, 80-plus-year tradition starts at 9 a.m. and boasts 16 gigantic balloons. If you are ambitious and want to brave the cold on the night before, you can watch those balloons get inflated. In addition to seeing Kermit the Frog or Spider-Man, you’ll also witness the squandering of the global supply of helium.

At projected rates of consumption, all the currently available helium on Earth will be depleted in about 40 years. While its best-known use may be filling balloons and making people who inhale it squeak like Mickey Mouse, the element’s scientific uses are arguably more valuable. No other gas is as light without being combustible.

At projected rates of consumption, all the currently available helium on Earth will be depleted in about 40 years. While its best-known use may be filling balloons and making people who inhale it squeak like Mickey Mouse, the element’s scientific uses are arguably more valuable.